The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fellowship is a fully accredited university-based program located in Winston-Salem, NC at the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The medical center is a Level 1 adult and pediatric burn and trauma center with an annual volume of more than 105,000 patient visits. The EMS fellowship program is hosted primarily by three North Carolina EMS agencies (Forsyth, Randolph and Stokes counties). The EMS fellow also has exposure to many other EMS agencies in North Carolina because of our large network of EMS-trained physicians employed by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Emergency Medicine, including ones in Davie, Davidson, Guilford, Iredell, and several more.
The EMS fellow serves as an assistant medical director with Forsyth, an urban based system, as well as Randolph and Stokes County EMS, both rural-based systems. The unique design of this program and the affiliated EMS systems, afford extensive online medical control experiences with pre-hospital medical professionals in urban, suburban and rural communities, from basic life support first responders and advanced life support transport to the hospital-based critical care transport and aeromedical programs.
Fellows have the opportunity and flexibility to explore special interests in pre-hospital medicine, including:
- Research
- Tactical medicine
- Wilderness medicine
- Disaster medicine
- Fire ground, technical rescue, water rescue, confined space rescue and HazMat
- Event medicine (including motorsport medicine)
This intensive, 1 year focus on prehospital medicine is designed to create an excellent EMS physician with specific core knowledge and wide exposure; however, the year allows flexibility to focus on a specific track of interest (such as wilderness medicine, tactical medicine, research among others). Additionally, fellows also have the flexibility to complete their one-year fellowship in EMS but we also afford the opportunity to go beyond just an interest and become in expert with a two-year fellowship combining one of the special interests above with an EMS fellowship.
Why Train at Wake Forest?
Wake Forest School of Medicine enjoys a fully accredited Emergency Medicine Residency Program that began in 1974 - one of the first programs in the country. Following this rich heritage, the Department of Emergency Medicine is proud to offer an EMS Fellowship Program.
Our curriculum combines the strengths of a tertiary academic medical center and multiple EMS agencies with the flexibility of an energetic program that can accommodate individual interests through a variety of prehospital experiences including, but not limited to:
- Administration
- Research
- Patient safety and quality
- Mass gatherings and event medicine
- Disaster
- Tactical
- Wilderness medicine
EMS fellows are routinely involved in multidisciplinary simulations and didactic sessions, procedure training and performance with EMS agencies, cadaver lab training and one-on-one, apprentice-style practice with board-certified EMS physicians practicing EMS medicine in the field. Our program emphasizes fellow wellness, long-term career satisfaction and innovation locally, regionally and nationally by providing a supportive environment and with mentors living out our mission.
Program Goals
- Develop EMS physicians who are competent, knowledgeable, compassionate and effective clinicians who will improve health by improving the delivery of prehospital medical care in their respective communities.
- Develop local, regional, state and national leaders in EMS medicine through mentorship, training, teaching and preparation of fellows to assume leadership roles following graduation.
- Develop EMS physicians who are able to generate and translate knowledge to improve healthcare in the community by becoming leaders in scholarly work, including research (clinical, educational, operational and administrative) and dissemination of scholarly work through publications including textbooks, journals, abstracts, poster presentations, state, regional and national presentations.
- Develop EMS physicians who are knowledgeable and engage in continuous quality improvement initiatives through prehospital clinical efficiency and systems-based practice to become stewards and leaders in value-based care while promoting EMS as an integral facet of the healthcare system.
Expectations and Evaluation
Fellows are required to assist in all aspects of EMS medical director duties such as assessment and local clearance for new hires, review of equipment and medications, performance improvement, clinical care review and continuous quality improvement (CQI), sentinel event investigations, protocol development and remediation of providers.
Fellows must maintain their primary board skills during the fellowship with approximately 48 clinical hours (approximately 6 shifts) averaged over four weeks with an expectation to work in one of our community emergency department sites.
Frequently Asked Questions
Salary is well above PGY4 pay and there is a generous CME stipend to promote your EMS activities. Additionally, each EMS fellow is provided a vehicle for EMS response.
The primary focus of your EMS fellowship year is EMS. Additionally, we value work life balance. Moonlighting is available in our community sites for fellows who desire additional clinical time at the discretion of the program director.
A typical week will consist of three days focused on EMS and the remaining focused on clinical duties and off time. For example, below could be a typical week:
- Monday: EMS fellow works the EMS agency in their rural EMS county (Stokes County)
- Tuesday: EMS fellow works with the EMS agency in their urban county (Forsyth County)
- Wednesday: EMS Fellowship day, focused on medical director duties with the program director in Randolph County, followed by EMS fellowship conference in the afternoon
The typical week may vary throughout the year depending on opportunities. Fellows are encouraged to attend the Wake Forest Emergency Medicine Residency weekly conference and skills labs (such as cadaver lab) when possible. Additionally, weeks may be adjusted based on specific elective months (including HEMS and critical care, Tactical and Wilderness, among others).
We are looking for an enthusiastic person who is eager to learn. We value diversity including ranges of past experiences. We do not expect you to be an expert in EMS and thrive on teaching you about our field. Our overall goal is to make you the best EMS physician that you can be and will be dedicated to achieving that goal.
EMS Fellows who graduate from our program work locally and nationally including the Southeast, Midatlantic, Midwest, Northeast and West Coast. Fellows from the past work in community and academic environments, including service as EMS fellowship program leaders and directors at multiple programs.
EMS Fellowship Snapshot
- 1 year program with intense focus on EMS
- 2 EMS fellows chosen each year
- Assistant medical director of urban based system and two rural based systems. Additional opportunities available in several other counties
- Physician response vehicle for each EMS fellow
- High EMS Board pass rate
- Board certified EMS Fellowship Program Director
- All Board Certified EMS Fellowship Core Faculty
- Numerous EMS faculty with expertise across an array of subspecialty EMS areas (tactical, wilderness, event medicine, motorsports, disaster, research amongst others)
- Association with large tertiary hospital that serves as a level 1 trauma center and burn center (including peds)
- Exposure to emerging areas in EMS including telehealth, alternative (nontraditional) paramedic practice setting and mobile integrated health (MIH) / community paramedicine
- Extensive opportunities: Wilderness Medicine; Tactical EMS; Research; Event Medicine; Helicopter EMS; Critical Care Transport (including peds); local, regional, state, national and international leadership; and many more!
- 3 weeks of vacation
- Estimate of 6 clinical shifts per month. Moonlighting opportunities
- Competitive salary (above PGY-4 level)
- Generous CME budget
- Great area to live, Winston Salem with excellent cost of living
